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Sean Parker's career

By any standard, Sean Parker is a very cool donor indeed. And this year, the 34-year-old co-founder of Napster is poised to bring his considerable fortune into the political world with fresh intensity, retaining advisers to bring new focus and sophistication to his political enterprises and preparing to make a significant investment in the 2014 election cycle.

Known primarily as a bad-boy file-sharing guru and defined in the public mind by Justin Timberlake’s frenetic 2010 portrayal in “The Social Network” (“A million dollars isn’t cool,” Timberlake’s character memorably said) Parker has dabbled in the political world for half a decade now.

If the exact direction of Parker’s new push into politics is still taking shape, he is already working actively to build new and stronger political relationships. He has met privately in recent months with some starkly different politicians, huddling with both Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, the libertarian-leaning GOP presidential hopeful, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, the populist progressive Democrat. He is eyeing a range of 2014 elections to get involved in and has spoken with former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist about his party-switching comeback bid.

This week, Parker will co-host a San Francisco fundraiser for state Attorney General Kamala Harris, along with Silicon Valley super-elites such as Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer, Laurene Powell Jobs and uber-investors Ron Conway, Marc Benioff and John Doerr.

On the operational side, Parker has hired Chris Garland, who recently stepped down as chief of staff to California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, to work in a political director role. The former Facebook president is conferring with national strategists about his political engagement. Among his advisers is Addisu Demissie, who managed New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker’s 2013 campaign and now heads up the West Coast office of the Messina Group, the consulting firm founded by President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign manager.

Parker’s allies say that his political goals remain broadly defined: Unlike other politically-inclined billionaires, such as the conservative Koch brothers and liberal environmentalist Tom Steyer, Parker hopes to avoid a purely partisan role as he ventures more deeply into politics.

Having donated almost exclusively to Democrats up to this point, Parker made a trip to Washington in December for the purpose of meeting quietly with Republican officeholders and strategists around town. He plans to donate to both sides starting this year, associates say, for the first time committing big sums to aid Republicans he views as credible deal-makers in a bitterly divided Congress.

There are specific issues Parker cares about, including immigration reform and investments in urban development and medical research. Like many in the tech world, he shares a set of liberal social values and, one Parker friend said, cares less about his personal tax rate than in making sure government operates efficiently.

At least for now, the Silicon Valley billionaire is primarily interested in fixing what he views as a broken political process, promoting voter engagement and supporting politicians who work across the aisle — all goals far easier to state than to accomplish.

Still, the decision to professionalize the political side of his operation, strategists say, is one Washington should take seriously.

“Sean Parker is the kind of person who, when passionate about an issue, jumps in with both feet,” said Alex Tourk, a Bay Area political strategist who advises Conway, the billionaire venture capitalist and Parker collaborator.

Ben Horowitz, the prominent Silicon Valley investor, shares that assessment of Parker: “He’s all in at a very, very intense level, at more hours of the day than most people are awake.”

“He’s got political views on various topics but his main agenda is sort of making democracy more modern, less corrupt,” Horowitz said.

Parker declined to comment for this story, and allies suggested he is reluctant to detail his plans at such an early stage.

It’s not just through contributions that Parker’s venturing into the world of politics. Last week, he joined Conway and Benioff in backing a new company, Brigade Media, with the general mission of creating tools that will enhance voter education and participation in government.

Operatives who have worked with Parker describe him as something of a wild card — both a news junkie who is earnestly passionate about politics, and an energetic entrepreneur juggling so many projects that it can be hard to keep politics in the foreground.